Oakes Ames ( 1874 - 1950 )

" One of the outstanding botanical institutions of the world is the Orchid Herbarium of Oakes Ames, at Harvard University in Cambridge , Massachusetts . It is the only herbarium in the United States and One of the few in the world which is devoted exclusively to orchids .........

" The Ames Herbarium ......represents the life work of Prof. Oakes Ames , once a leader in the botanical field in Harvard University , Director of the Botanical Museum and for many years the foremost American orchidologist ....."

These words of praise were published in the Philippine Orchid Review in 1955, written by Charles Schweinfurth , for thirty -five years an associate and close friend of Oakes Ames. They portray a short ,but factual and unbiased , account of the ardor and diligence given by a remarkable man to his favorite plant family -the Orchidaceae .

Oakes Ames was born on 24 September 1874 in North Easton ,Massachusetts . Grandson of Oakes Ames , the builder of the Union Pacific Railroad ,and a son of Oliver Ames , later governor of Massachusetts , young Ames entered a heritage of culture , family wealth , and position .At an early age he became interested in orchids and formed a collection of his own .

Ames graduated from Harvard University in 1898, received hi A.M. there in 1899,and joined the teaching faculty.Shortly thereafter he was chosen as director of the Harvard Botanical Garden .In 1926 he became professor of botany and chairman of the Division of Biology . In 1932 he was appointed Arnold Professor of Botany . From 1935 until his retirement in 1945 he served as director of the Botanical Museum and until his death was associate director and research professor of botany emeritus . All the while he upheld and contributed to the prestige of his alma mater .

All during his career Ames maintained an active interest in orchids, devoting most of his leisure time to the taxonomic study of that expansive plant family. His Studies took him all over the world ,and his work on orchids resulted in the publication of numerous papers on the orchids of various regions ,plus seven volumes entitled Orchidaceae : Illustrations and studies of the family Orchidaceae.Ultimately ,in the tradition of those great orchidologists who proceded him , Lindley and Reichenbach , he became the leading orchid authority in the world .

In the meantime he met Blanche Ames , a Smith College graduate who had taken top honors in her chosen field ":art .They were married in 1900. Their combined accomplishments in orchidology left a most enduring impression on the botanical world; many of Ames' publications were embellished with the marvelous etchings and line drawings of his wife . In their North Easton home, Blanche Ames produced nearly infinite numbers of orchid illustraions under the guiding influence of her botanist husband . Much of her time was invloved also in doing phylogenetic charts for Professor Ames' use his course in economic botany at Harvard.

In connection with his teaching duties and research, Ames accumulated an extensive library pertinent to his studies and course. An herbarium numbering over 14,000 sheets of dried economic plant materials was also formed , and during World War I Ames served on the Economic Research Council in Washington because of his eminent knowledge of plants useful to man. In his connection , his book, Economic Annuals and Human Culture, probably speaks most profoundly for his eminence in that field .

Though deeply involved in university studies which would have stagered even the most dedicated , Ames' zeal for orchid taxonomy remained at a high peak. For forty years he received specimens sent for identification and analysis from correspondents all over the world . As a result , an extensive orchid herbarium was formed . The initial work was first housed in the Ames residence at North Easton , then at the Bussey Institution in Jamaica Plain, and later at his home in Boston. In 1924 it was transferred to the Botanical Museum at Harvard . There it continued to grow , numbering 64,000 sheets, 4000 fresh orchid flowers preserved in alcohol , a collection became known as the most perfectly organized and complete herbarium of any plant group in any country in the world . Only the Lindley Herbarium at kew and the Reichenbach Herbarium in Vienna approched the enormity and content of the Ames collection . In 1954 the entire herbarium was transferred to the new Harvard University Herbarium.

Oakes Ames in perhaps best known for his involvement with the orchids of the Philippines . Though interested in the flora of the Philippines since 1898, and despite his long association with Dr. Elmer D. Merrill, director of the Bureau of Science in Manila , he was reluctant to encroach upon a botanical area then being studied by various other botanists . In his own words:

Prior to 1898 , there was tendency among American botanists to leave to British , German and Dutch authorities the task of interpreting the orchid of Malaysia . These authorities had at their command the historic collections of the Old World and were well grounded in the intricacies of the Malaysian flora . Robert A. Rolfe , at Kew , had a definite interest in the flora of the philippines ; Rudolf Schlechter of the Berlin Museum , through his researches among Celebesian species, was turning his attention toward the Philippines ; and J.J. Smith of the Buitenzorg Botanic Garden , the master of the Javan field, was actively engaged with the orchid flora of the outlaying islands . And Fritz Kraenzlin was busy with his ponderous monographs of Eria and Dendrobium , genera comprising a host of Malaysian species . It seemed hardly wise or necessary for an American to enter a sphere of effort of which the materials were already in capable hands . Furthermore , in 1898, one might have counted on one's fingers and toes the number of Philippine orchids represented in the plant collections of the United States. Even had he wished to enter the field , an American botanist , if he had attempted to do so , would have merited being called rash, if not foolhardy.

Returning from a summer vacation in 1905, Ames was amazed , however , to learn from his assistant ,Dr. Robert G. Leavitt , that the Bureau of Science at Manila had invited him to identify specimens accumulated through an intensive exploratory campaign-and that Dr. Leavitt had accepted on Ames' behalf, committing him to the research! Ames later commented :

...... It was indeed a horrowing experience in view of my preparation for the job, because it soon became apparent that lacked not only the specimens but the requisite knowledge to carry on critical identifications. It became apparent also that the Philippines possessed a richer orchid flora than had been revealed by the published records . Moreover , first and last , I was attempting to keep pace with the industry of over seventy collectors ,several of them devoting their attention exclusively to the search for orchids.

........ One morning in early September , 1905 , the victim of perpelexity and despair , I went to my laboratory and instructed my assistants , Dr. Leavitt and microscopes , three cameras and a selected set of helpful books and to make themselves ready to accompany me abroad . I had decided that it was high time to visit the herbaria of Europe and to make a thorough examination of the available collections of orchids from the Malay Archipelago. It was planned to make analytical drawings of the flowers of significant types and to attempt to assemble a complete photographic record of herbarium specimens germane to the orchids of the Philippines . At midnight , on October 10, we steamed out of Boston Harbor on the Cunard liner , R.M.S. Saxonia , with an overwhelming burden of trunks .

As a result of his studies of the important collections of early Philippine types at Kew and the British Museum , and at Paris and Leyden , Ames became the world authority on Philippine orchids, describing hundreds of species new to science. Later trips to the jungles of Honduras and Brazil , plus a round trip of the world , served as addenda to his botanical versatility .

Later ,Ames wrote the orchid section in Merrill's Enumeration of Philippine Flowering Plants . In March 1930 he and Mrs. Ames visited Manila , where he collaborated with the Philippine botanist, Dr. Eduardo Quisumbing , on a series of articles on Philippine orchids which appeared in the Philippine Journal of Science (1931-1937). Unfortunately , the manuscript of their fully illustrated ten-volume monograph was later lost in the liberation of Manilla during World War II.Ames ' visit also included meeting Ramos,Santos , and McGregor , the collectors who had for so many years furnished him with much of the material described and alalyzed in his enumeration of Philippine orchids.

Nemerous honors and awards were quite naturally accorded Professor Ames during his plenary career , among them the Gold Medal of the American Orchid Society , the Centennial Medal of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society ,and the George Robert White Medal for eminent service to horticulture . In addition to being a fellow of many learned societies both in the United States in abroad ,he was an honorary member of the American Orchid Society and served as a vice-president from its inception . Washington University awarded him the honorary degree of doctor of science , at St. Louis in 1938.

Fifty years of loyal service to botany and Harvard University terminated with Ames' death on 28 April 1950, at his Ormond , Florida ,home, at the age of seventy-five . But his name lives on in the orchid genera oakes -amesia and Amesia , as well as in the charming Philippine Vanda amesiana .

References

American Orchid Society Bulletin . 1948.Orchids in Retrospect .Vol. 17, no.7.

Ames ,Oakes . 1945. Notes on the Orchid Flora of the Philippines .Amer . Orch. Soc. Bull. 13 ,no. 10.

Davis,Reginald S., and Steiner ,Mona Lisa. 1952. Philippine Orchids.New York: The William -Federick Press.

Philippine Orchid Review . In Memorian .Vol. 3 ,no.2 ,p. 16 .

Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London. 1951. Obituaries ,Session 162, 1949-50 . Part 2 .

Schweinfurth ,Charles . 1955 .Mrs . Oakes . Ames as a Botanical Illustrator . Philippine Orch. Rev. 6, no.1.

Schweinfurth ,Charles 1950. Oakes Ames.Amer . Orch. Soc . Bull . 19 ,no . 6 .

Schweinfurth ,Charles. 1955 . The Oakes Ames Orchid Herbarium . Philippine Orch. Rev. 6 ,no. 1.